The Ballerina Princess
by AnjuAddams
Summary: Once upon a Time, there was an ugly duckling who became a ballerina who fell in love with a steadfast soldier. Together they saved a Prince from an Evil Raven and lived in happiness, until a curse cast by an Evil Queen separates them for 28 years... Can Ahiru and Fakir find each other again? Contains themes from Swan Lake, The Ugly Duckling and The Steadfast Tin Soldier.


**AN: Since my other story Among the Stars, is almost finished, I decided to go ahead and post this next idea I had. **

**I had this idea while watching OUAT, I just thought that the shows would mesh well together given the whole true love/happy ending thing.**

**I am not an expert on classical ballet and all of my information comes from Wikipedia and YouTube videos of performances and the actual show.**

**I hope you enjoy my story!**

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_"May those who accept their fate be granted happiness. May those who defy their fate be granted glory."_

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_Chapter 1: The Ugly Duckling_

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_Once upon a Time, there was a man who died…_

_This man's work was the writing of stories…_

_But he could not defy death._

_The last story he was working on was about a brave and handsome Prince,_

_Who vanquishes a crafty Raven,_

_But it seemed their battle would go on for eternity._

_"I'm sick and tired of this!" cried the Raven._

_"'I'm sick and tired of this!" cried the Prince as well._

_The Raven escaped from the pages of the story,_

_And the Prince pursued the foul creature._

_In the end, the Prince took out his own heart and sealed the Raven away by using a forbidden power._

_Just then a murmur came from somewhere,_

_"This is great!" said the old man who was supposed to have died._

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_Enchanted Forest (Before Curse)_

It began, as most stories do on a warm and sunny day by something that happened purely by accident. An egg from a swan's nest was knocked out by a clumsy dog that had gotten too close to the nest. The egg rolled downhill, where by some miraculous chance it ended up inside a duck's nest.

There the egg laid kept warm by the mother duck surrounded by numerous other eggs until it was time to hatch. One by one the ducks hatched, crawling their way out of their shells seeking the warmth of their mother. Eventually all but the last egg had hatched so the ducklings and their mother watched patiently. It seemed to last forever and the mother duck was beginning to give up hope when finally cracks appeared in the shell. The baby inside struggled and when it eventually crawled out it was a strange sight indeed.

While the other ducks were a bright yellow, this _duckling_ was a strange grey colour and was noticeably bigger than its siblings. The mother duck was aghast, what had gone wrong? Why was this duckling different from the rest? She could find no answer and so decided to bury her worries.

So the ducklings spent their days playing in the nearby river, frolicking and laughing, but all was not good as the ugly duckling grew faster than all the other ducklings and the others began to tease her mercilessly.

_Oh why was I born looking different? _She thought_. What is wrong with me?_ For months on end the taunting continued and even though she had told Mother, nothing had come from it. So one day she decided to leave home and run away.

One dark night, when everyone was asleep, the ugly duckling slipped away and fled downstream, she followed the river for hours until the sun was high in the sky. She was extremely tired when she noticed in the distance a great town. The duckling didn't know it but she had followed the river all the way to a distant isolated kingdom. The duckling swan close to the town wall that stretched above her, when she noticed a hidden grating she could pass through, and so squeezing in she found herself in a lonely lake on the edge of town.

_This looks like a great place to stay _thought the duckling. _There's no one here who can tease me anymore!_

So the duck put her head down and took a much needed nap. She slept for a long time and was woken, by voices in the distance. Hiding herself behind some reeds she peeked out and nearly gasped at what she saw.

There was a boy there stood on the shore of the lake dressed in a white leotard, with the most beautiful hair; it shone white in the sun looking like fresh snow. The boy's eyes were like emeralds, yet they held no spark within them, and he didn't smile. Not once.

But still the duckling was entranced. _Why are his eyes like that? Why isn't he smiling?_

The boy was talking to a figure, another boy. This one had hair as black as coals and a stern expression. He was dressed like a knight in the finest armour that looked well cared for, with a sword at his side. The knight frowned at the dull eyed boy at crossed his arms before speaking.

''Are you sure this is what you want to do Prince Siegfried? In your _condition_ you could very well…'' stressed the knight.

''It's fine.'' Spoke the Prince shortly. ''I'm dancing.''

The knight sighed; a long resigned sound and bowed. ''Very well, my Prince you may dance. But that is _all _you will do. Nothing else understood? You know how the Princess gets.''

''Yes I understand.''

The duckling noticed the strange way the Prince spoke, in only short bursts and never once fluctuating in pitch. This was another thing that worried her about him.

The knight let out another sigh, then turned sharply on his heels and began to walk away down the path to town. Eventually he rounded a corner and disappeared from sight.

The duckling was enticed when the Prince began to dance, whirling and twirling with practiced ease, although even as he danced he still never smiled and his eyes never changed. But he kept dancing and it wasn't until hours later when the sun was low in the horizon did the knight return.

''Your Highness, it is time to return home, the Princess is waiting for you.'' He informed, the still dancing figure who halted in place.

''I'm coming.'' The Prince affirmed.

The two figures turned at set off, once again leaving the duckling all alone to contemplate the Prince. _What a beautiful dancer. I want to dance with him._

The duckling imagined herself with the Prince dancing the night away until she grew tired and fell asleep, but the next morning she was woken by the two boys again. She noted with some shock, that the conversation they had was exactly the same as they had had yesterday! Even the actions were the same. Then the Prince began to dance and as she suspected danced the same steps as the day before, until the knight came to collect him.

_What was that all about? That was really weird._ The duckling thought.

And so, every day the Prince and the Knight came to the lake repeating their actions over and over, as the days grew shorter and colder, snow settling down on the lake shore. Yet the Prince continued to dance as though nothing was wrong, until one day the duckling grew sad.

_Why is he like this? I want to help him, but I am ugly old duck in voice and in look. Those eyes that always look so lonely, there's got to be a reason right? If there was only some way, if I could do something, I would die for him…_

**In a place far, far away, cogs and gears rusted with age began to move once again, groaning and creaking.**

Then out of nowhere came a deep voice that frightened the duckling. She hid herself amongst the reeds shaking.

_**Well Well, you care for him don't you? A little duck like you?**_

''Quack?'' said the duckling, looking around rapidly. She looked all around, but could find no one. So she turned back around and got the fright of her life.

There in front of her, was a pair of eyes, and a grin so wide that it showed several shining white teeth, floating above the lake. She screamed and screamed.

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_Storybrooke: October 24th (28 years later)_

The 18 year old girl in the bed snored, the drool escaping from her mouth dribbling into her tangled brown hair, before she shot up screaming.

''It's a ghost!'' She shouted only to realise that sunlight was streaming in through her room window. The girl rubbed at her eyes, a yawn escaping her mouth.

_It's morning already? I hardly got any sleep…_

Groaning, the girl lifted herself out of bed when the door was harshly slammed open, the knob smashing against the wall.

''Ahiru, you are so lazy! You've only just gotten up!'' shouted the girl who had just burst in. The girl was dressed in a pink leotard, her similarly coloured hair pulled in a high bun. Behind her was another girl dressed in the same outfit, with curly blonde hair held up in pigtails. She giggled at the scene.

''It's not funny Lily, Ahiru you've gotten _twenty_ minutes before class starts. You should get a move on. I have to tell you this every day, can't you get it through your thick skull?'' the pink haired girl exclaimed. To prove her point, she rapped the brown haired girl- Ahiru's head, earning both an ''Ow!'' and another giggle from Lily.

''Sorry Pike, but I can't hel-wait did you say _twenty_! Oh my God! I'm gonna be sooo _late_!'' she cried, pushing both Pike and Lily out the door despite their protests. ''See you later, gotta get ready!''

She hurried over to the shower and dived in emerging five minutes later to dry herself. Then Ahiru rushed over to the cabinet and pulled out a white leotard, slipping it on, before heading over to a large mirror on her wall to brush her tangled hair and putting it in her customary pigtail, before she ran out of her room locking up behind her.

As she ran down the steps and out of the dorm, she had a moment to reflect on herself. She was Ahiru, a dance student at Storybrooke's dance academy Gold Crown. For such a small town, Storybrooke had some weird places. Ahiru herself had been a nobody in the town, no family to speak of and only two friends, the headstrong Pike and the bubbly Lily, the lack of friends wasn't helped be the person who Ahiru hated the most, her bully who coincidentally was the girlfriend of Ahiru's crush.

She'd been a student at the academy for what seemed like forever. It was strange, like she'd been trapped. But something in the air felt _different_ today, it was like she was almost free of something.

She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she almost didn't see the people in front of her crossing the school courtyard. She let out a yell, before she managed to swerve to the side before her chronic clumsiness set in and she crashed to the ground. Groaning she rubbed her aching side, before she climbed up gaping at the people in front of her, face flushing red.

''Headmaster! I am so sorry. I was late for class and I was rushing and-'' her embarrassed rambling was cut off by a chuckle from the old man clutching his cane in front of her.

''No need to apologise, young girl! I know how you feel, why when I was a student here, I was always rushing about. No such luck these days though!'' With his tall figure and long white beard, Gold Crown's headmaster cut an imposing sight. As always, by his side was his personal nurse Dolly who was watching the proceeding's with her ever-present poker face. The headmaster chuckled again before he coughed harshly, faltering a little until Nurse Dolly steadied him.

''Come along Headmaster, let's get you a nice cup of tea.'' stated the Nurse. She started to lead the old man off walking round the fountain, the headmaster turning back to the girl and shouting.

''I hope you enjoy your dancing lessons, Ahiru!''

_Eh! How did the headmaster know my name? I'm not that important_ she thought, until the ringing of a bell brought her out of her thoughts. _Oh great! _She took off again, bounding over obstacles, rushing through doors until she burst into her dance hall, with a few minutes to spare. She sighed in relief and took a moment to rest.

''Ahiru, there you are!'' stated Pike, who had begun to walk over followed by Lilly. ''We thought you wouldn't make in on time.''

Ahiru apologised. ''I was running all the way here and I bumped into the headmaster and h-'' she was cut-off for the second time that day.

''Never mind that, we have something to tell you, a rumour that we heard was going round town?'' want to hear it? Ahiru groaned, Pike was a known gossip, but most of what she heard was reliable so she nodded her head.

''Well, what I heard was, you know the Mayor's kid Henry? Apparently a few days ago his mother showed up in town! His birth mother I mean, not the mayor.'' Ahiru was shocked, she knew Henry a little, the boy was obsessed with finding his real mother, but she could relate as she too had wanted to meet her parents for the longest time until she released it was a fruitless effort.

'' It's weird though isn't it?'' Pike continued. ''We hardly ever get visitors, even ones who want to stay.'' Ahiru agreed, she knew that not many people, if any came to this distant little town. She wondered why Henry's birth mother would want to stay. _Hadn't she given Henry up?_

But there was no more time to mull it over, as the door opened once more and in stepped their dance instructor.

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**Alright, thats a wrap for now! Next chapter we introduce the mysterious Prince and the alluded to Princess!**

**If you liked the story, leave a review, it would be much appreciated!**


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